1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to accessories which are useful during playing of the game of golf and, more particularly, is concerned with a multi-functional golf accessory for use in performing golf ball teeing, marking and retrieving tasks, tee retrieving tasks and divot repairing tasks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been estimated that an average golfer bends over more than seventy times during a round of golf. This poses a major problem for many golfers in that due to an assortment of medical conditions they experience pain in their back, hips and/or knees in stooping or bending from a standing position and so have difficulty in playing a round of golf. As a result, many of these golfers have little choice but to quit playing golf. Further, as the golfing population has an increasing number of seniors and handicapped golfers, there are more and more golfers who are unable to tee a golf ball properly, fix divots, mark golf balls, or pick up their tees.
A variety of devices have been proposed in the prior art to reduce the need for golfers to have to stoop or bend during a round of golf. Representative of such prior art devices are the ones disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,943,856 to Eimerman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,200 to Jackle et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,661 to Attig, U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,826 to Trefts, U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,250 to Henthorn, U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,938 to Hill, U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,961 to Milano, U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,947 to Kopfle, U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,357 to Wolf and U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,000 to Comella. While most of these prior art devices appear to be satisfactory in use for the specific purposes for which they were designed, none of them seem to provide a comprehensive solution for the problem at hand. The prior art devices fail to enable the performance of teeing of a golf ball, picking up tees, fixing divots, removing the golf ball from the cup or marking a golf ball on the green.
Consequently, a need still exists for an innovation which provides a comprehensive solution to the aforementioned problem without introducing any new problems in place thereof.
The present invention provides a multi-functional golf accessory designed to satisfy the aforementioned need. The multi-functional golf accessory of the present invention enables one to easily perform golf ball teeing, marking and retrieving tasks, tee retrieving tasks and divot repairing tasks and thereby eliminates the need for a golfer to stoop or bend during a round of golf. Specifically, by using the golf accessory of the present invention golfers are now able to easily tee a golf ball uniformly, pick up tees, fix divots on and off the green, mark balls on the green, and remove balls from the cup. Even golfers without physical handicaps will benefit from being able to tee the ball at a consistent height without canting the ball. Also, golf course managers will appreciate a device that allows all golfers the ability to easily fix their divots on the fairways as well as the greens.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a multi-functional golf accessory which comprises: (a) an elongated shaft having spaced apart upper and lower end portions; (b) a handle attached to the upper end portion of the shaft; (c) a ball teeing mechanism mounted to the lower end portion of the shaft and including a pair of arms being movable toward and away from one another between capture and release positions and having respective outer end portions defining respective elements extending in opposing relation to one another for capturing and holding a golf ball and a tee therebetween when the arms are moved toward one another to the capture position and for releasing the golf ball and tee therefrom when the arms are moved away from one another to the release position; (d) an actuating mechanism including a finger-actuatable trigger movably mounted to the handle and extending outwardly therefrom and means for movably coupling the trigger to the arms of the ball teeing mechanism such that in response to movement of the trigger in a first direction the arms are moved from the release position to the capture position whereas in response to movement of the trigger in a second direction opposite to the first direction the arms are moved from the capture position to the release position; (e) a tee height setting device mounted to a side of the ball teeing mechanism and being operable to preset the height at which the tee can be implanted into ground by the ball teeing mechanism; and (f) a ball retrieving device mounted to another side of the ball teeing mechanism opposite to the side thereof mounting the tee height setting mechanism, the ball retrieving device being pivotally movable between an upper storage position in which the ball retrieving device extends along the shaft and a lower retrieving position in which the ball retrieving device extends beyond the ball teeing mechanism for inserting into a cup to retrieve a ball therefrom.
The present invention is also directed to a multi-functional golf accessory which comprises: (a) an elongated shaft having spaced apart upper and lower end portions; (b) a handle attached to the upper end portion of the shaft; (c) a ball teeing mechanism including a housing attached to the lower end portion of the shaft and a pair of arms having respective inner end portions disposed interiorly of and mounted to the housing such that the arms are movable relative to the housing and toward and away from one another between capture and release positions, the arms also having respective outer end portions disposed exteriorly of the housing and defining respective elements extending in opposing relation to one another for capturing and holding a golf ball and a tee therebetween when the arms are moved toward one another to the capture position and for releasing the golf ball and tee therefrom when the arms are moved away from one another to the release position; (d) an actuating mechanism including (i) a finger-actuatable trigger movably mounted to the handle and extending outwardly therefrom, (ii) an elongated rod extending through the shaft and having opposite upper and lower ends, the rod at the upper end movably coupled to the trigger, and (iii) means for movably coupling the lower end of the rod to the inner end portions of the arms of the ball teeing mechanism such that in response to movement of the trigger and the rod therewith in a first direction the arms are moved from the release position to the capture position whereas in response to movement of the trigger and the rod therewith in a second direction opposite to the first direction the arms are moved from the capture position to the release position; and (e) a tee height setting device mounted to an exterior side of the housing of the ball teeing mechanism and being operable to preset the height at which the tee can be implanted into ground by the ball teeing mechanism.